Exceptional barbecue in NW Columbus, Ohio

Barbecue in American History

The heritage of Southern barbecue is connected to the Taíno tribe, whose people originated in Venezuela and spread throughout many Caribbean islands. The Taíno were a subgroup of the Arawakan Indians from South America. The Taíno's ancestors lived within the islands in the Caribbean Sea at the time when Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas on October 12, 1492.

The Taíno became known for their inventive cooking method, which involved slow-cooking meat over a raised wooden structure. The Arawak Indians are credited with creating this culinary technique.

Our word "barbecue" comes from the word "barbacoa," which is derived from the Taíno word "brabacot." The term "barbacoa" was documented in 1526 by Luis de Moscoso Alvarado Alonso Fernández de Oviedo, both Spanish explorers who fled Spain due to religious persecution. They were part of the De Soto expedition of the 1500s, and their exploration of the southern states is documented in their writings.

De Soto's fleet sailed from Havana to Florida on Sunday, May 18, 1539. De Soto was the first European explore the interior of Georgia.

The De Soto expedition encountered theosa people and the Ocute chiefdom during their travels through Georgia. The Coosa a powerful confederation of tribes that lived in Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee.

De Soto's expedition visited the town of Ocute, the home of the paramount chief. De Soto was greeted by the chief in a litter carried by the chief's principal men. The chief wore a diadem of plumes and was surrounded by attendants who sang and played flutes. During De Soto's exploration, barbecue was and written about in 1526. Significantly, the term "barbacoa" was recorded by Alonso Fernández de Oviedo Val during the De Soto expedition. This is the earliest written account of barbecue, which took place in the southern state of Georgia. His journals captured the verifiable beginnings of barbecue as a culinary tradition, but the cooking method was clearly not new, a skill honed for hundreds of years and passed through cultural lines.

The Chickasaw tribe were originally semi-nomadic people who lived along rivers and streams in what is now northern Mississippi and Alabama. They were skilled warriors who descended from ancient mound builders. In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, forcing the Chickasaw to sell their land and migrate to Oklahoma in 1832.

The Chickasaw Indians met the De Soto expedition and showcased their skills at their own barbecue with a pig roast during a December in Mississippi, documented by Hernando de Soto. In the 1500s, Hernando de Soto was impressed by a grand pig roast at a celebratory feast hosted by the Chickasaw tribe, highlighting barbecue's unifying role in diplomatic relations.

The arrival of British colonists in the 1500s included the introduction of enslaved Africans, who significantly barbecue by becoming the primary cooks and pitmasters on plantations. Enslaved Africans brought their native cooking techniques to the Americas. They traditionally cooked barbecue by digging a hole in the ground, it with rocks or coals, and placing meat over the heat to cook slowly—essentially a "pit" where the meat was cooked with indirect heat from the fire below. This method was adopted from their African heritage and was a practical way to cook large quantities of meat with limited resources on plantations.

Barbecue became a form of communal celebration among enslaved people, and their cooking techniques significantly influenced the development of barbecue history. Additionally, the British colonists brought livestock, including the first domestic pigs to enter America. As domestic pig breeds thrived, wild pig populations also grew, providing affordable animals for barbecues in the Southern colonies. By the 1600s, barbecue became a beloved centerpiece of large gatherings, whether for church revivals or public political rallies.

The blending of barbecue traditions can be credited many different cultures, including Native American, African, European, and Spanish influences. This cultural fusion played a vital role in establishing Southern barbecue's depth and deliciousness as a cherished culinary tradition across North America and internationally. BBQ became synonymous with Southern cuisine.